Love between the Hate
by Tegan.x
Summary: The crew confront the hardships that have faced them. Mal tries to understand his feelings, and River seems to be healing? The Alliance is the problem again. Fights, Hurt, Love, Friendship. What will happen to them? Different type of ending to Serenity.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Firefly, or Serenity, or any of Joss' Ideas. **

**I apologize for any spelling mistakes or anything else I have gotten wrong, I do not have a beta you see… If you have any questions or confusion, you can private message me or leave a review. Constructive critsism is welcome. **

**This is the first Firefly/Serenity fic I have written…..I hope you like it!**

It was quiet, always quiet in the black. The mesmerizing brightness of the stars, contrasting with the pure blackness. The edge of the 'verse wasn't a place he would normally bring them, a crew of misfits in a rundown –yet loveable- Firefly. They needed to hide, and this was the only place he could trust not to reveal them anymore. He couldn't carry this on. He couldn't let his crew be part of this revenge toward the Alliance, he wouldn't let that revenge destroy the lives of seven people…five now.

"Not your fault." Her voice brought him out of his revere.

"What's that little one?" he questioned turning his chair to see her standing in the doorway. The bridge had been quiet, just him and the black. As it had always been.

"It's not your fault." She repeated moving towards the chair next to him, her chair. She was the only one now who ventured onto the bridge apart from him. Its wash's home…was his home.

"You shouldn't blame yourself," she continued "No one blames you," she smiled sadly, "People leave and don't come back…" He stared at her, as mesmerized as he was while watching the stars. Her graceful movements as she crossed the small room to sit in her seat. Drawing up her legs to her chest. Protecting her heart. They sat in silence for a while, but it was a comfortable silence. He thought about Wash's death, the Reevers adding to the destruction around them. About Inara's betrayal to the whole crew and the Alliance then chasing them, killing Mr. Universe in the process. The whole crew had changed. Well…not her.

She was the same strange little girl who was hurt by the Alliance. Still the beautiful young River he had sheltered on his ship for nearly a year. She was Dangerous, feisty but still so innocent and pure at the same time. What the Alliance had done to her was sick and wrong, he would never let them hurt her again.

He watched her stare out into space, wondering what she was thinking. She was so small…She turned to face him and they stared at each other, their eyes locked, staring into each others souls. She made him feel…whole. Like the war hadn't happened, the Alliance wasn't on his tail, like he hadn't led this life of hatred and revenge.

She stood up, breaking the contact. "Not your fault." She repeated walking towards the door. "None of it is." And she was gone. He was alone again, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. He wouldn't let it.

*

He stood at the end of the long table, and eerie silence around him. River sat at the entrance to the room, her long hair covering her face as she stared intently at the colours on her dress. Zoe wasn't at her usual spot behind him on his right, but at the table, legs crossed like a little girl, a blank look in her eyes so sad he had to turn away. She had taken her husbands death badly, but who wouldn't. Sheppard looked as serene as ever, Jayne lying back in his chair, legs on the table, polishing Vera, and Kaylee. Kaylee sat directly in front of him; dirt from the engine streaked her bright face. He looked each of them over in turn. Two were now gone, a broken crew leftover. A shuffling of papers alerted him to the presence of the Doc behind him. He took his place in the middle of the table, spreading his notes across it. Charts, numbers, calculations. Ways he could fix his sister.

"But she's not broken," came a comment from River, "just cracked a little." She smiled as Mal turned to look at her, along with the rest of the crew. "Feng le" Jayne muttered under his breath. Simon gave him a dirty look, but carried on looking over his notes, casting a worried look in his sisters' direction.

Mal had always been confused about some of her outbursts, just like that one. It seemed as if she could read his mind. But he shook his head and turned back to the rest of the crew. He took a deep breath; he didn't know how to say to his crew that he was going to go running after the very group of people that were chasing them. It was going to be dangerous, but he knew that if he didn't have his crew backing him then he was as good as dead.

He sighed and turned to look at River before speaking. "Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. You all made your place on this ship, and I thank you for that. I've asked you to handle things that I suppose only my mind can imagine. But I knew that you would stand behind me. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before, because without you I can't do it. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. They'll corner us between a rock and a hard place, and take what they want. I know what they've done to us in the past, but that's even more reason for us to fight back. Hit them where it hurts. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave."

The room had gone silent; he could feel Rivers' eyes burning into his back, Kaylee's bright face suddenly serious from Mals' speech. Zoe sat the same as before, as if nothing had happened, the same blank look in her eyes. Jayne had stopped in mid polish of Vera, his mouth hanging wide open, but a slight glint in his eyes. Simon sat there, his eyes also staring at him like he had grown a second head. Sheppard was the first to break the silence.

"Mal-"

"I'm in." Jayne butted in over him. "Now can I go? Vera needs attention and this doom and gloom is ruining both our vibes. Mal wasn't surprised; the only thing that had worried Jayne in the last few weeks was how much less pay he was getting. He nodded and Jayne stood up from the table and headed to his quarters.

Mal looked towards the rest of the crew, waiting again for them to speak. The silence was deafening. Suddenly Zoe uncrossed her legs and stood in front of her captain. The pain in her eyes was still evident but there was something else also…revenge. It almost scared Mal, but he knew better. The corners of his mouth turned up in a small sad smile. Not even having to nod this time, their understanding was mutual. Zoe left the room.

Kaylee's bright face was in front of him next, and before he knew it he was pulled into a bone crushing hug from her. He grinned and put his arms lightly around her before she pulled away. "I'm always with you Captain." She said grinning. "I'll go get her nice and shinny for you. She's gonna need a few new parts though, before we go into full battle mode…" at the look on Mals face se trailed off slightly. "But that's something to talk about later." She smiled and ran off down the corridor to check on Serenity's engines.

Book stood from the shadows. "I'll get in contact with my friends at Haven. I'm sure we will need help." And with that he walked out the room.

Simon shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the table. "You're risking a lot here Mal. We don't have a lot of firepower, and we're going up against the Alliance? Are you sure?"

He sighed; the doc really did annoy him sometimes. Did he not hear anything he had just said? "Listen doc," he replied. "I'm giving you a choice, I've made my decision. I'm going up against them for what they've done to us. I'm not leading my crew into some sort of suicide mission. This is going to be planned. So I'm leaving it up to you and your sister to decide weather or not you are going to stay and help fight these people who have hurt your lives as much as mine." He turned around to face River who was staring at him with a curious look on her face and smiled. The corners of her mouth curled up and she grinned back. "I'm going to have to think about it Mal." Simon said ruining the moment.

Mal turned back to him. "You're going to have to think fast Doc, coz we're leaving as soon as Sheppard gets into contact with his friends of those in Haven." He headed for the doorway leaving the siblings together, needing to check on the mule and iron out his battle plan.

**Please review if you think I should carry on….or if you just want to make me feel loved. ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**It's been ages…and this chapter is way shorter than the last one. I'm sorry on both accounts. Although I hope you like this little bit.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of Joss' ideas! . . . Unfortunately.**

Serenity was filled with the sounds of footsteps, tinkering and the occasional small explosion. Mal was in the cargo bay, his head stuck into the engine of the Mule when he heard another explosion, this time louder than the last.

"Gorram it Kaylee what the blazes is going on in there!" he shouted up to the engine room where she was working. He heard a faint, "Sorry captain." Before the tinkering continued. He frowned thinking about the damage that the Reevers had caused to the ship, he wasn't happy with what he was going to have to replace.

He stuck his head yet again up into the engine of the mule. Pulling at a wire, which broke off into his hand." This better not be important." He muttered to himself.

"Just the direct winding wire to the external conductor which is connected to the multi-phase motor." Came a serious voice from above him. He pulled his head out of the engine to see River sitting on a nearby cargo box gazing at him. "It's going to need to be taken apart and reconnected. Perhaps a few modifications…" she trailed off looking over the Mule, another loud crash could be heard in the distance.

Mal looked her over curiously. The medication her brother had given her seemed to be working. Nothing insane had happened yet, and her cryptic words now started to make more sense. (Weather that meant he was going crazy for understanding her was another story)

"Well...that can happen when we touchdown at Haven." He said dusting off his hands. As if on cue, Sheppard walked into the cargo bay. "I've contacted my friends." He said. "They said they could host us for awhile, although they did express that we keep a low profile and not to bring along any business deals while we are there." Mal nodded, it was a big ask for them to keep his crew protected. He would be there for them if they needed anything in the future. If they got out of this alive that is.

He gave one last look towards the mule and shook his head. "I'll set a course." Climbing the cargo stairs towards the bridge he saw River move closer to the Mule, her delicate hands smoothing over its surface. In gave him the shivers how in tune to things she was, she knew so much. He shook his head again, the thoughts cast from his mind at the moment. He needed to wave Fanty and Mingo, see if there were any business deals he could strike. They needed a backup if things went wrong. He wanted this to be without faults as much as humanly possible.

The bridge was quite again as he reached it. He moved towards toward his seat, his fingers smoothing over the seat just like Rivers had over the mule. The stars of the verse sparkled as he punched in the co ordinates for Haven.


End file.
